New Books for January 24, 2017

Fiction

No Man's Land

Simon Tolkien

Adam Raine is a boy cursed by misfortune. His impoverished childhood in turn-of-the-century London comes to a sudden and tragic end when his mother is killed in a workers' protest march. His father, Daniel, is barely able to cope with the loss. But a job offer in the coal mining town of Scarsdale presents one last chance, so father and son head north. The relocation is hard on Adam: the local boys prove difficult to befriend, and he never quite fits in. Meanwhile tensions between the miners and their employer, Sir John Scarsdale, escalate, and finally explode with terrible consequences.
In the aftermath, Adam's fate shifts once again, and he finds himself drawn into the opulent Scarsdale family home where he makes an enemy of Sir John's son, Brice, who subjects Adam to a succession of petty cruelties for daring to step above his station. However, Adam finds consolation in the company of Miriam, the local parson's beautiful daughter with whom he falls in love. When they become engaged and Adam wins a scholarship to Oxford, he starts to feel that his life is finally coming togethe until the outbreak of war threatens to tear everything apart.
From the slums of London to the riches of an Edwardian country house; from the hot, dark seams of a Yorkshire coal mine to the exposed terrors of the trenches in France; Adam's journey from boy to man is set against the backdrop of a society violently entering the modern world.

The Patriots

Sana Krasikov

An astonishing first novel, epic in scope--that takes us from Brooklyn in the 1930s to Soviet Moscow and Siberia, and back to New York in the 1980s and beyondâ€”about the price of loyalty, the lure of betrayal, and the bonds between a mother and a son

The Believer

Joakim Zander

Yasmine Ajam fled her past in the rough Stockholm borough Bergort, reinventing herself as a trendspotter in New York City. One day she receives a startling message: there are riots erupting on the streets of Stockholm and they appear to be connected with the disappearance of her brother, Fadi. Following rumors that Fadi was radicalized and died fighting for ISIS in Syria, Yasmine returns to Stockholm to discover what really happened to her brother. There she becomes entangled in a dangerous web of allegiances and violence that stretches far beyond the gangs on her childhood streets. In London, Klara Wallden landed a job at a human rights research institute working on a report to predict the effects of privatizing police forces. When Klara travels to Stockholm to present her findings to European Union policymakers, her laptop is stolen and one of her colleagues is pushed in front of an oncoming subway train. As her path collides with Yasmine's, Klara begins to realize that she may unwittingly be contributing to the sinister agendas of powerful interests who will stop at nothing to attain their goals.

The Fifth Petal

Brunonia Barry

When a teenage boy dies suspiciously on Halloween night, Salem's chief of police, John Rafferty, now married to gifted lace reader Towner Whitney, wonders if there is a connection between his death and Salem's most notorious cold case, a triple homicide dubbed "The Goddess Murders," in which three young women, all descended from accused Salem witches, were slashed on Halloween night in 1989. He finds unexpected help in Callie Cahill, the daughter of one of the victims newly returned to town. Neither believes that the main suspect, Rose Whelan, respected local historian, is guilty of murder or witchcraft.
But exonerating Rose might mean crossing paths with a dangerous force. Were the women victims of an all-too-human vengeance, or was the devil raised in Salem that night? And if they cannot discover what truly happened, will evil rise again?

Two Days Gone

Randall Silvis

What could cause a man, when all the stars of fortune are shining upon him, to suddenly snap and destroy everything he has built? This is the question that haunts Sergeant Ryan DeMarco after the wife and children of beloved college professor and bestselling author Thomas Huston are found slaughtered in their home. Huston himself has disappeared and so is immediately cast as the prime suspect. DeMarco knows. or thinks he knows, that Huston couldn't have been capable of murdering his family. But if Huston is innocent, why is he on the run? And does the half-finished manuscript he left behind contain clues to the mystery of his family's killer?

For Time and All Eternities

Mette Ivie Harrison

For some Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints, "plural marriage" isn't just ancient history. Mormon bishop's wife Linda Wallheim is stunned to learn her son Kenneth has gotten engaged to a young woman from a polygamous family. Naomi Carter may have left the religion she grew up in, but the Carters will still be the Wallheims' in-laws once Kenneth and Naomi are married. Stephen Carter, Naomi's father and the patriarch of the Carter clan, invites the Wallheims over to the Carter family compound in the remote foothills of the mountains outside Salt Lake City. Stephen Carter wishes to extend an olive branch to his future in-laws, and introduce them to his five wives and twenty-two children. Linda suspects he also wants to try to persuade the Wallheims that his way of life is truly righteous. From Linda's point of view, polygamy is an abhorrent practice, one that dehumanizes women and makes children vulnerable to unhealthy family structures. She and her husband, Kurt, arrive at the Carter compound braced for trouble--Linda has her eyes peeled for signs that Stephen's wives and children are unhappy or abused. Although she can't find concrete evidence of mistreatment, Linda's gut instinct tells her that something on the Carter family compound is deeply wrong. She can't quite put her finger on what--until it's too late, and one of the family members is found murdered. Afraid that Stephen Carter's unworldly, sequestered wives and children might suffer at the hands of investigating police, Linda vows to stay at the compound until the murderer is found and the survivors are safe. But even if she manages to do more good than harm with her snooping and interfering, Linda can't unsee what she has seen during her time at the Carters'. Confronting the legacy of polygamy in her own Mormon family raises even more questions about her already shaky faith.

Don't Turn Out the Lights

Bernard Minier

"You did nothing." Christine Steinmeyer thought the anonymous suicide note she found in her mailbox on Christmas Eve wasn't meant for her. But the man calling in to her radio show seems convinced otherwise. Bit by bit, strange things keep happening... it's as if someone has taken control of her life. Everything holding Christine's life together crumbles until all that is left is an unimaginable nightmare. Martin Servaz is on leave in a clinic for depressed cops, haunted by his childhood sweetheart Marianne's kidnapping by his nemesis, the psychopath Julian Hirtmann. One day, he receives a key card to a hotel room in the mail--the room where an artist committed suicide a year earlier. Someone wants him to get back to work, which he's more than ready to do, despite his mandatory sick leave... What if the people closest to us are not what they seem? What happens when someone takes control of your life and your relationships? And what is hiding in the darkness? Don't turn out the lights. If you do, prepare for the worst.

The Returning

Rachelle Dekker

As the Seers send warriors to rescue Elise and bring restoration to the Authority City, ultimate victory in this battle against the powerful forces of evil rests with the strangely powerful girl who has felt forgotten but was never abandoned.

The Devil's Daughter

Katee Robert

Growing up in a small town isn't easy, especially when you're the daughter of a local cult leader. Ten years ago, Eden Collins left Clear Springs, Montana, and never once looked back. But when the bodies of murdered young women surface, their corpses violated and marked with tattoos worn by her mother's followers, Eden, now an FBI agent, can't turn a blind eye. To catch the killer, she's going to have to return to the fold. Sheriff Zach Owens isn't comfortable putting Eden in danger, even if she is an elite agent. And he certainly wasn't expecting to be so attracted to her. As calm and cool as she appears, he knows this can't be a happy homecoming. Zach wants to protect her--from her mother, the cult, and the evil that lurks behind its locked gates. But Eden is his only key to the tight-lipped group, and she may just be closer to the killer than either one of them suspects.

A Promise of Fire

Amanda Bouchet

Catalia "Cat" Fisa lives disguised as a soothsayer in a traveling circus. She is perfectly content avoiding the danger and destiny the gods-and her homicidal mother-have saddled her with. That is, until Griffin, an ambitious warlord from the magic-deprived south, fixes her with his steely gaze and upsets her illusion of safety forever. Griffin knows Cat is the Kingmaker, the woman who divines the truth through lies. He wants her as a powerful weapon for his newly conquered realm-until he realizes he wants her for much more than her magic. Cat fights him at every turn, but Griffin's fairness, loyalty, and smoldering advances make him increasingly hard to resist and leave her wondering if life really does have to be short, and lived alone.

Silk Stalkings

Diane Vallere

Fabric shop owner Polyester Monroe can get tangled up in textiles, but it's murder that really throws her for a loop in the latest mystery from the national bestselling author of Crushed Velvet . The time has come for San Ladran, California's annual Miss Tangorli beauty pageant, and Poly has agreed to use Material Girl's inventory of shimmery silks to create embellished gowns fit for a crown. But when millionaire Harvey Halliwell--the man who revived the city's citrus trade with his imported tangorli tree--is found dead days before the pageant contestants are announced, something sour takes over the town. To make matters worse, her friend, mechanic Charlie Brooks, is soon caught up in the crime, having been seen in the company of the case's prime suspect. Now Poly's on a mission to squeeze out the truth. But as she searches for a pattern, the killer seems intent on cutting up the evidence...

The Perils of Paulie

Katie MacAlister

Sheltered by a strict father, Paulina Rostakova spends her time working for the family business and yearning for some grand adventure. So when contestants are needed for a reality show reenacting an historic 1908 car race across the US, Asia, Russia, and Europe, Paulie jumps at the chance to get behind the wheel of a vintage car. Dixon Ainslie has nothing to lose by entering the race, except the rut he's been in since the death of his girlfriend years ago. But as other racers begin to drop out, the producers want Dixon to join forces with Paulie on one condition: they have to pretend to fall in love and get married. And as their scripted courtship takes off, Dixon and Paulie will have to take a detour into reality to turn the sparks flying between them into a passion with staying power.

The Viscount and the Vixen

Lorraine Heath

Love begets madness. Viscount Locksley watched it happen to his father after his cherished wife's death. But when his sire arranges to marry flame-haired fortune hunter Portia Gadstone, Locke is compelled to take drastic measures to stop the stunning beauty from taking advantage of the marquess. A marriage of mutual pleasure could be convenient, indeed, as long as inconvenient feelings don't interfere. Desperation forced Portia to agree to marry a madman. The arrangement will offer the protection she needs. Or so she believes until the marquess's distractingly handsome son peruses the fine print, and takes his father's place! Now the sedate, and more importantly, secure union Portia planned has been tossed in favor of one simmering with wicked temptation and potential heartbreak. Because as she begins to fall for her devilishly seductive husband, her dark secrets surface and threaten to ruin them both, unless Locke is willing to risk all and open his heart to love.

About ICL

The Ionia Community Library is housed in the Hall-Fowler House, a beautiful mid-nineteenth century building in downtown Ionia.
Frederick Hall, a Vermont-born businessman and banker, settled in Ionia in 1841 when he was twenty-five years old. Primarily engaged in buying and selling pine lands, he was also a public official. In 1845, President James K. Polk appointed Hall a receiver of public money for the land office in Ionia. Four years later, he won election to the state legislature, and in 1873, when Ionia was incorporated as a city, he became its first mayor.
Befitting his family's affluence, Hall hired Captain Lucius Mills to build a square two-story mansion in 1869-1870. Fredrick, his wife Ann, and their daughter Marion moved into the home and it soon became a center of politics and entertaining.
The Hall-Fowler home is one of the best examples of Italianate architecture in Western Michigan. Constructed of local variegated ashlar sandstone, the building's facade displays a great double-panel oak door emphasized by an elaborate front porch, a double arched window, a trefoil-like attic window, a central gable, and an ornate octagonal central cupola. Intricately carved wooden brackets, both paired and single, support the main eaves, while single brackets grace the cupola, porch, and sunroom eaves. Tudor-style semicircular hoods with keystones and end stones set off the elongated windows.
In 1903, Marion Hall-Fowler (1849-1931) deeded the house to the city of Ionia, stipulating that it be "forever used for library purposes" and "known as the Hall-Fowler Memorial Library." The Hall-Fowler House was granted recognition as a Michigan Historic Site in 1992.
Reorganized as the Ionia Community Library in 2003, the Hall-Fowler House continues to provide a venue for education, enlightenment, and personal growth for residents of Ionia County. Library tours are available for groups and individuals by appointment.
Discover more about the Hall-Fowler House as well as the historic structures and landmarks in Ionia by visiting the following websites:List of Registered Historic Places in Ionia County, MIIonia Historic District

All Members of the Board of Trustees can be reached by contacting the Ionia Community Library. Email: paulawood.icl@gmail.com

Board Meeting Dates

2017

2018

July 19

January 17

August 16

February 21

September 20

March 121

October 18

April 18

November 29

May 16

No December meeting.

June 20

The Ionia Community Library Board of Trustees Meetings are at 6PM in the Administrative Offices on the second floor of the library.

Library Cards

Everyone is welcome to use the library's collection in the building. A library card is required to check out library materials. Residents of the City of Ionia and the following townships qualify for regular library cards: Berlin, Easton, Ionia, North Plains, Orange, Orleans, and Ronald. All or portions of these municipalities are within the library district.

Registering for a library card requires either a valid Michigan Driver's License or Michigan Identification Card with your current street address. Minors under the age of 18 are required to have a parent or guardian present identification and co-sign for their library card. There is no charge for the first library card.

As a member of the Lakeland Library Cooperative (LLC), the Ionia Community Library honors cards issued by our member libraries. Ionia County residents who do not live in LLC service areas are entitled to a free nonresident card. The library also offers varying levels of fee-based services for nonresidents.

Library cardholders or co-signers are responsible for all materials checked out to that card and for paying fines and/or replacement costs when accrued. Please notify the library if your card is lost or has been stolen.

New Ionia Community Library patrons are limited to five items checked out at a time for the first three months.